Written questions by Ward.

What steps she is taking to ensure staff receive training on the Scottish benefits system.

DWP learning reflects the services provided by Social Security Scotland with references and signposting to operational instructions.

What steps she is taking to (a) review and (b) consult on the rate of statutory sick pay in the Spring 2025 Spending Review.

Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) is paid entirely by employers and so the rate is not subject to departmental spending decisions that will be made at the Spring 2025 Spending Review. The rate of SSP is reviewed as part of the annual uprating process. Subject to Parliamentary approval the rate of SSP will increase in line with the September 2024 CPI rate of 1.7% to £118.75 per week from April 2025. Through the Employment Rights Bill, introduced on 10th October 2024, the Government has removed the SSP waiting period and extended eligibility to those earning below the Lower Earnings Limit. The changes introduced within the Bill will mean that for some lower earners, including those earning below the Lower Earnings Limit, their rate of SSP will be calculated as a percentage of their earnings instead of the flat weekly rate. The Government is currently consulting on what this percentage should be, so that it provides a fair earnings replacement when these employees need to take time off work. This consultation will close on 4th December 2024.

How many women claimed statutory (a) maternity pay and (b) maternity allowance in Scotland in each of the last five years.

Statutory Maternity Pay is delivered through HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC), rather than the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). Figures provided by HMRC on the number of new claims for Statutory Maternity Pay in Scotland in each financial year from 2019/20 to 2023/24 are shown in Table 1. Table 1. The number of Statutory Maternity Pay spells starting in Scotland in financial year YearNumber of Statutory Maternity Pay spells in Scotland starting in each financial yearApril 2019 - March 202027,600April 2020 - March 202125,700April 2021 - March 202227,500April 2022 - March 202324,900April 2023 - March 202424,900 Statistics on the number of Maternity Allowance spells starting in each quarter in Scotland from February 2010 to November 2023 are published and can be found at Maternity Allowance: quarterly statistics - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk). The latest release covers September – November 2023 and data from March 2019 – November 2023 are shown in Table 2. These figures are based on a 5% sample of Maternity Allowance Claims and should be treated with caution. This is because a recent review determined that the available sample used to estimate the Maternity Allowance statistics at a regional level was too small to provide a sufficient level of confidence. Table 2. The number of Maternity Allowance spells starting in Scotland in each quarter QuarterNumber of Maternity Allowance spells in Scotland starting in each quarterSeptember - November 2023840June - August 2023880March - May 2023920December 2022- February 20231,020September - November 2022880June - August 2022740March - May 2022NADecember 2021- February 2022700September - November 20211,000June - August 2021600March - May 2021760December 2020- February 2021780September - November 2020660June - August 2020840March - May 20201,000December 2019- February 20201,140September - November 2019920June - August 2019880March - May 2019900NotesFigures for Statutory Maternity Pay are rounded to the nearest hundred and figures for Maternity Allowance are rounded to the nearest ten.Figures for Statutory Maternity Allowance were collected using HMRC Real Time Information (RTI) and were extracted in August 2024. RTI is subject to revision or updates. The location of the claim is based on the taxpayers’ residential address as recorded on RTI.It is not possible to identify when an employee has started a second claim for Statutory Maternity pay within twelve months from the data so these figures may exclude a small number of claims where someone has given birth twice within a twelve month period.Figures for Maternity Allowance should be treated with caution because they are based on a sample of Maternity Allowance claims that has since been found to be too small to provide a sufficient level of confidence. They also exclude a small proportion of clerical cases.Maternity Allowance statistics for March - May 2022 were not published as planned due to a data production error so no figures are provided for this time period.

How much was spent on maternity pay in Scotland in each of the last five years.

Outturn for Maternity Pay consists of both Statutory Maternity Pay and Maternity Allowance, and is published by country in the Expenditure by country and region tables, last updated following Autumn Statement 2023. Outturn for Scotland in the last five years available is as below (Expenditure £ million, nominal terms) 2018-192019-202020-212021-222022-23Statutory Maternity Pay Scotland191.0 175.0 187.9 206.9 206.3 2018-192019-202020-212021-222022-23Maternity Allowance Scotland29.8 27.8 25.9 21.6 19.1 Maternity Allowance expenditure figures for Scotland are estimates using national and regional breakdowns from Official Statistics on Maternity Allowance benefit caseload and average amounts of benefit paid, applied to GB outturn expenditure totals. Statutory Maternity Pay Expenditure figures for Scotland are estimates using national and regional breakdown of amounts of SMP paid to employees, applied to GB outturn expenditure totals. Please note, these figures may change with the next publication of data, following Autumn Budget 2024. We are not expecting to publish breakdowns of MA in Autumn 2024 as a new operational system to record MA cases is currently being developed. As such, Maternity Allowance statistics will be suspended from the quarterly statistics release on 13 August 2024 until data can be extracted from the new system. (Maternity Allowance: quarterly statistics - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)).